JW Pharmaceutical said on Monday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Zefit, a clinical research organization (CRO) specializing in zebrafish models, to expedite the progress of new drug development.

To expand the indications of its drug candidates and explore new innovative drug projects, JW Pharmaceutical plans to leverage Zefit's zebrafish model. In return, Zefit will offer disease-specific zebrafish models and drug-screening platforms that incorporate gene-editing technologies.

Zebrafish is a tropical fish that shares more than 80 percent of its genetic makeup with humans. Because of this, it has become a highly favored nonclinical translational research model, offering an alternative to pre-clinical tests on mammals. 

Zebrafish models are widely used by global pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and Europe to test drug targets, efficacy, and safety.

Using zebrafish for nonclinical testing can reduce the cost of tests to one-hundredth of that required for testing on mammalian species. Because adult zebrafish typically grows to only 3-4 centimeters in length, smaller quantities of drugs can be used in testing, leading to quicker results and shorter research periods, ultimately helping to reduce costs.

Moreover, zebrafish models exhibit a high level of consistency with mammalian experiments, with a similarity rate of up to 91 percent and the phase 2 clinical trial success rate can be increased by 21.1 percent, JW Pharmaceutical said.

"Our collaboration with Zefit is a great opportunity to reduce R&D costs increase and address ethical issues surrounding animal testing," said JW Pharmaceutical’s Chief Technology Officer Park Chan-hee. "We will continue to utilize the zebrafish model to improve the efficiency and productivity of drug research."

The company also plans to strengthen translational research to reduce the gap between nonclinical and clinical through open innovation with Zefit.

JW Pharmaceutical is conducting joint research with domestic and foreign bio companies with related R&D platforms such as zebrafish, artificial intelligence (AI), exosomes, organoids, and proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC).